How To Root

How To Root Huawei Mate 8 On Android Nougat

March 18, 2017

Huawei Mate 8 was recently update to Android 7.0 Nougat with a lot of goodies on-board. The new firmware added a lot of new UI elements, features and improved the over-all performance of the device. The Mate 8 was released running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. There has been a lot of custom stuff available for this phone which might have forced many Mate 8 owners to root their device. After upgrading your phone to the latest Android 7.0 Nougat, you will end up wiping the root access. In order to root your Mate 8 on the Android Nougat, you will need a whole new process and follow it from scratch.

It took quite a while for Android power users to get across the line and come up with a proper working method to root this device. Right now, the good news is that this phone has been rooted and you can enjoy all of your root-specific perks once again. Thanks to XDA member dexz who discovered this method and posted it out. The method is fairly simple. It doesn’t make the use of SuperSU, it makes the use of PHH SuperUser instead. In order to root your Mate 8, you have to unlock its bootloader, flash a TWRP recovery and then flash a few files in order to gain root access. Of course, you need your phone running on Android 7.0 Nougat stock firmware beforehand.

A handy guide is available below in order to assist Mate 8 owners with this process. Have a look at it and learn how you can root your Huawei Mate 8 running Android 7.0 Nougat with the help of TWRP recovery.

Precautions & Preparation

This guide is intended for Huawei Mate 8 only. Do not try this method on any other device otherwise you may result in bricking it.
Make sure that your phone’s battery is charged up to 80% in order to avoid any power issues during the flashing process.
Backup all of your important contacts, call logs, sms messages and media content to stay on a safe end.
Enable USB debugging mode on your phone in developer options. To do so, go to settings > about device > tap build number for 7 times. You will have developer options in settings now. Open developer options > Enable USB debugging. If you have the “OEM Unlocking“ option, enable it as well.
Use your original data cable to establish connection between your phone and your PC.
Follow this guide to the letter to avoid any mishap.

Disclaimer: The methods involved in flashing custom recoveries and rooting the device are highly custom. Rooting the device and flashing a custom recover is never recommended by a device manufacturer. In case something goes wrong, TechBeasts or the device manufacturers may not be held responsible. Make sure that you’re doing everything at your own risk.

Required downloads & installations

Download and install Huawei USB drivers.
Download and install Minimal ADB & Fastboot drivers.

Contents

How to Unlock Huawei Mate 8 Bootloader

Unlocking bootloader will wipe your device. Make sure that you’ve backed up everything before going ahead.
Install Huawei’s HiCare app in your phone and call the support in HiCare. Request them to get your bootloader unlock code. You will have to provide your email, IEMI and serial number.
Huawei will send you your bootloader unlock code through an email in a few days or in a few hours.
Make sure that you’ve downloaded and installed Minimal ADB & Fastboot drivers on your Windows PC or installed Mac ADB & Fastboot for Mac.
Connect your phone to your PC now.
Now open Minimal ADB & Fastboot.exe from your desktop. If you do not have this file on your desktop, then go to your Windows installation drive i.e. C drive > Program Files > Minimal ADB & Fastboot > Press and hold Shift Key + Right click on an empty area with the open folder > click “Open command window here”.
Now in the command window enter the following commands one by one.

adb reboot-bootloader

This will reboot your Nvidia Shield in bootloader. Once booted up, issue the following command.

fastboot devices

This command will verify the connection of your device with your PC in fastboot mode.
fastboot oem unlock (bootloaderunlockcodexxxxxxxxxxxx)

This command will unlock the bootloader. As soon as you press the enter key after typing this command, you will get a message in your phone asking for the confirmation of bootloader unlocking. Use volume up & down keys to navigate through options and confirm unlocking.
fastboot reboot

This command will reboot your phone. That’s all, disconnect your phone.

How To Install TWRP Recovery and Root Huawei Mate 8

Download recovery.img file for Huawei Mate 8. Rename the downloaded file to only “recovery.img” to make the process easy.
Copy recovery.img file to Minimal ADB & Fastboot folder which is located in program files in your windows installation drive.
Now boot your Huawei Mate 8 into fastboot mode as suggested in the step 4 above.
Connect your Huawei Mate 8 to your PC now.
Open Minimal ADB & Fastboot.exe explained in step 3 above.
Now in the command window enter following commands:
- fastboot reboot-bootloader
- fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
- fastboot reboot recovery or use the Volume Up + Down + Power combination to get into TWRP now.
- (this will boot your device in TWRP recovery mode) Do not go out of the TWRP recovery until you are rooted.